QUARTERLY NEWSLETTERCaritas Sri Lanka - SEDEC

January / March 2020Volume 30, No 34

133, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri LankaTel: + 94 11 2691885E-mail: sedec@slt.lk, sedec@caritaslk.org, Web: www.caritaslk.org

TRAINING FOR YOUTH ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Seven Five Day Training programmes were held at Caritas Centers of Chilaw, Trincomalee, Ratnapura, Badulla, Anuradhapura, Kandy and Jaffna under the “Expansion of Religious Amity Program - Enhanced Youth Participation”. The theme of the training program was “Youth for Ethnic and Religious Harmony through Social Media”. Social Justice and Sustainable Peace Unit of Caritas Sri Lanka - SEDEC was able to deliver all these seven training programmes with the support of all 13 Caritas Diocesan Centers.

The conduct and the enthusiasm showed by the youth exceeded the expectations as the programmes were conducted in a highly successful manner. First two days were devoted for Youth Leadership, value of teamwork, gender stereotypes and understanding Peace, Conflict and Harmony. Rest of the three days were dedicated for Youth Peace Journalism, Photography, Videography and Social Media Tools.

The sessions on photography and video included practical exercises and visitation of religious and historical places. The youth were able to learn the ethics on Photography, video editing, handling Facebook and WhatsApp. Uploading images, videos into blogs/vlogs, creating of YouTube channels were explained by professionals and experts. This program was funded by Caritas Norway/ NORAD.

MULTI STAKEHOLDER CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMMES ON LABOUR MIGRANTS’ CASE HANDLING MECHANISM IN

2019 AND 2020

Caritas Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Employment and Caritas Diocesan Centres organized a series of 2-day Capacity Enhancement Programmes for stakeholders engaged in the Safe Labour Migration related work in the Districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Hatton, Jaffna and Batticaloa.

The objective of these workshops is to build the capacities of the participants in spheres related to the case handling procedures, especially deploying an empathetic approach to their profession while dealing with the people whom they serve. It is expected to improve the quality of their service while understanding the emotions that the vulnerable migrants and their family member encounter. The participants are also enlightened of the work and services carried out by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE).

The Migration team of the Caritas National Centre spearheaded organizing and arranging the logistics in close collaboration with the respective Partners and Caritas Diocesan Centres. This project intervention was carried out under the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) funded, Safe Labour Migration Project.

CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING ON INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) FOR FOOD SECURITY STAFF

Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC has organized Capacity Building Training on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) specially for all DCs’ Tamil Speaking Food Security Staff at Trincomalee on 19th and 20th of February 2020 under the “Addressing Causes for Poverty and Ensuring Food Security for farming communities” in Sri Lanka implemented by Caritas Network. Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control is a broad-based holistic approach to sustainable agriculture that focuses on managing insects, weeds and diseases through a combination of cultural, physical, biological and finally chemical methods that are cost effective, environmentally sound and socially acceptable. IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level.

This was a 02 Days residential training jointly organized at District Agriculture Training Centre, Anbuvelipuram – Trincomalee with the coordination of Department of Agriculture - Eastern Province, Caritas Trincomalee and Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC. Mr. Nishanth Rajasegaram, Regional Coordinator – Food Security program ccoordinated the training program from National Centre. This time SEDEC had an opportunity to include and educate 15 Agricultural Instructors (AI) and Technical Assistant (TA) from the Department of Agriculture into this IPM training as well, based on the request of Department of Agriculture.

Including them, 04 Diocesan Directors and 64 participants were joined there from Caritas Jaffna, Caritas Mannar, Caritas Vanni, Caritas Trincomalee, Caritas Batticaloa and Caritas Kandy with Lead Farmers of Respective DCs.

Training was furnished with the essential required topics for the implementation of Food Security Program in multi- part of the country. Based on it, Training Centre has been arranged suitable Agricultural experts to facilitate the Training. Following experts facilitated the training session for 02 days under different topics on IPM,

• Dr. S. J. Arasakesary - Additional Director, Regional Agricultural Research & Development Centre, Kilinochchi• Mr.S. Rajeshkanna - Assistant Director, Regional Agricultural Research & Development Centre, Kilinochchi• Mr. A. Amirthalogan - Research Officer, Regional Agricultural Research & Development Centre, Kilinochchi• Mrs. B. Bawaleswaran - Assistant Director, Regional Agricultural Research & Development Centre, Thinnaveli

- Jaffna

In the Starting of the session, Dr. S.M. Hussain, Provincial Director of Agriculture-Eastern Province and Mr. M. Parameswaran, Deputy Director of Agriculture (Ext), Trincomalee also joined in the session. Knowledge gain from the training will be used to capacitate the Food Security beneficiaries in the Northern, Eastern and the Central Province of the country.

“Unity, to be real, must stand the severest strain without breaking”. - Mahatma Gandhi

SCHOOL PRINCIPALS FULLY SUPPORT ‘EMOTIONAL LITERACY SCHOOL’ (ELS) PROGRAMME

School principals of 4 schools in Chilaw and Mawatagama dioceses have rendered their fullest support for the ‘Emotional Literacy School’ (ELS) programme implemented by the Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC. Officials of the ‘Disaster Risk Management’ unit of SEDEC who are conducting the programme, recently visited 4 schools to introduce the counsellors to the principals and staff. The counsellors who were specially trained to work with the Grade 10 students of the schools had the opportunity to interact with the school authorities as well as students.

DRM team visited St. Sebastian Maha Vidyalaya in Katuneriya and Carmel Girls College in Chilaw and Meetenwala Maha Vidyalaya and Watareka Maha Vidyalaya in Mawatagama. We were told by the school principals that this programme

Cont. to page no. 3

“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.” – Albert Einstein

A WORKSHOP ON PRA CONDUCTED UTILIZING INTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCES

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is considered one of the popular and effective approaches to gather information as a way of learning from people, with people and by the people. This approach aims to incorporate the knowledge and opinions of rural people in the planning and management of the available resources for a better tomorrow. Therefore PRA is methodology directly involved in the program “Addressing causes for poverty and ensuring food security for farming communities” implemented by Caritas Sri Lanka.

With the objective of refreshing the existing knowledge and to capacitate the Food Security staff in Diocesan Centres, the Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC has organized a workshop on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). There were 30 Nos. participants including Diocesan Director, Caritas Kurunegala, Diocesan Director, Caritas Kandy, Assistant Director, Caritas Kurunegala and Food Security staff from Colombo, Chilaw, Kurunegala and Baddula Dioceses and the newly recruited food Security staff from Kandy, Anuradhapura and Ratnapura Dioceses were participated in this two day PRA -workshop on 06th and 07th March 2020 held at Caritas Kurunegala - Janasetha Centre.

In order to provide guidance and new horizons to refresh the existing knowledge, the program was facilitated by selected Food Security Staff members, as knowledge and experience sharing session. The program was inaugurated by Very. Rev. Fr. Piyal Janaka Fernando, the Director Caritas – Kurunegala. The objectives and the importance of the program delivered by Mrs. Sithumini Perera –Program Officer, Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC.

There after participants were capacitated with following subject matters in the training: • Introduction to PRA and importance in Food Security project conducted by Mr. Hemantha, Program Coordinator,

Badulla DC.• The application of PRA tools were presented as follows; Structural interviews/Transect walk, Problem

identification and Analysis (Problem Tree) - Mr. Upali, MEAL officer, Kandy DC , Seasonal Calendar Mr. Lionel, Program Coordinator, Chilaw DC, Wealth Ranking – Miss Helan , Program Coordinator, Kurunegala DC , Daily Activity Clock – Mr. Arul , Kandy DC , Resource Map and Social Map – Mr. Nishanth, Regional Coordinator, Caritas Sri Lanka –SEDEC, Venn Diagram- Mrs. Sithumini Perera from National Centre.

This refresher training and the workshop concluded with a practical application of PRA tools with the villagers of Nawa Malkaduwawa in Kurunegala District.

Caritas Sri Lanka - SEDEC glad to note that this program provided the platform to enhance the presentation skills of the facilitators for their future ventures while empower them as Resource Personals in the similar activities to address the objectives of the Food Security project in the future. The program was encouraged by the earnest participation of DC staff and the guidance of the Diosesan Director Rev. Fr. Desmond Perera - Kandy and the Asst. Director Rev Fr. Thusitha Priyanga, Kurunegala. Kurunegala Diosesan Director provided all the necessary facilities to end up this two day workshop an informative and successful event with the collaboration of NC staff of Sustainable Agriculture Unit.

will help to address the children who are going through hardships due to broken families, broken love-affairs, drunkard fathers and the drug menace.

According to the programme, only 2 or 3 periods will be allocated within a week for counsellors to work with the students but all the principals are willing even to conduct after school classes. School sessions were to begin in April soon after the term tests in the schools but as the schools were closed abruptly in March due to COVID-19 epidemic, the plan is to commence the programme once the schools start in late April or May. Fondazione San Zeno of Italy through Caritas Italiana is sponsoring this programme for the benefit of the school children in Sri Lanka. ‘ELS’ is implemented in Chilaw, Jaffna, Kandy, Kurunegala, Mannar and Trincomalee dioceses.

Contd. from page no. 2 - School principals...

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill

CARITAS SRI LANKA DELEGATES VISIT CHENNAI ON A FACT FINDING MISSION IN HANDLING DIFFERENTLY ABLED

Caritas India’s Community Based Rehabilitation Forum (CBRF) had given the opportunity to 6 delegates from Caritas Sri Lanka to visit Chennai to learn about what is happening to differently abled and how India handles them. The delegates had the opportunity to experience the mechanism at village level, intermediary level and the governmental level.

CBRF has established partners in different parts of India and the partners are working with Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). The team visited one such partner, ‘Integrated Rural Community Development Society’ (IRCDS) in Thiruvallur. IRCDS has formed ‘Differently abled People’s Organizations’ (DPO) in the villages and has capacitated DPO members through meetings, awareness programmes and workshops. DPOs look into the welfare and livelihood of its members. They also train them on sustainability and financial self-sufficient by using methods such as ‘Rolling Funds’. ‘Vasanatham’ is one of ‘District Differently abled People Organizations’ (DDPO) working closely with IRCDS. In Vasantham’s general body there are 42 members and they cover 315 villages in Tamil Nadu where 10000 PwDs are benefitted.

As far as the government is concerned, the Collectors Office in Chennai has taken the lead by helping the PwDs. Empowerment of PwDs is their main task. The Collectors Office also donates INR 1000/- for each PwD monthly, offer scooters, provide job opportunities in the government sector as well as private sector and render early diagnosis and physiotherapy services. Collectors Office organize awareness programmes for its own staff in handling PwDs. ‘Special Grievance Day’ is organized once a month where PwDs will be able to talk to officials directly about their grievances.

Most interesting part of the visit was the ‘National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities’ (NIEPMD) in Chennai. NIEPMD is a governmental institution and situated in Muthukadu in the outskirts of Chennai. The multistoried building in the sprawling campus is barrierless and PwDs could access any floor with greatest ease as all the floors are equipped with lifts, ramps and tactile paving for the visually impaired. An audience was given by Dr. A. Amaranath, a lecturer at the institute who was deputizing for the director. He briefed the delegates on the activities they carry out and the benefits they offer for PwDs. NIEPMD provide only rehabilitation services to PwDs. They do not provide medical services. It also provides allowances as well as equipment free of charge to PwDs. Expensive items such as prosthetic and orthotic equipment are also provided free of charge as the centre has its own workshop to manufacture them. NIEPMD’s in-house training schemes trains the staff as handling PwDs is a special profession. Undergraduate students are also enrolled for many degree programmes. NIEPMD provides professional training in handling PwDs to NGOs and institutions, local or international at a nominal rate. The team visited all the sections/departments; Early Childhood, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Early Intervention, Sensory Integration, Speech Hearing and Communication and Neuro Development Therapy.

Caritas Sri Lanka has already implemented a project to ensure the rights of the children with disabilities and their parents/caregivers in Mannar and Vanni dioceses. The delegation comprised of Caritas Directors and Project Officers from Mannar and Vanni. The delegates obtained valuable inputs in handling the PwDs from this fruitful visit to Chennai.

New DC Directors assuming officeWe welcome Rev. Fr. Sebamalai Sebajeevan and Rev. Fr. Piyal Fernando

both of whom recently assumed duties as Directors of Caritas Vanni and Caritas Kurunegala respectively.

Caritas Sri Lanka assures them of its support in managing and developing their respective institutions.